I saw a little false advertising tonite while slumped on my bed, lazily watching the news, since nothing else was on.

Channel 2 showed a report about Federal Express introducing a new line of diesel/electric trucks to complement their delivery force in Sacramento. The new trucks would increase fuel efficiency by 50% while reducing pollution by 90%. Along for the announcement was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who got to look at the engine and took a test drive of one of the trucks.

2 went to commercial so I switched to 3, which is Channel 11. They were teasing the next segment.

The graphic on screen wrote "NEW JOB?" while the video showed the same clip of Arnold behind the wheel of the hybrid truck.

In a loud voice: "Is Arnold looking for a new job??? Find out why Governor Schwarzenegger is starting to drive FedEx trucks, next on the 6:00 news."

Two weeks ago, when you put the word "ranting" into the Yahoo search engine, this site came up #2 among the thousands of legitimate ranting sites out there, if there is such a thing as a legitimate ranting site. I guess there isn't, since if there was, this site wouldn't be ranked #1, as it is now.

This revelation comes off the heels of the announcement that Yahoo has introduced a new way to rank pages, similar to Google's PageRank system. I'm flattered, humbled, and honored to come out on top (it's like winning an award!), but I'll be sticking with Google for the time being. Those searches have gotta be more relevant. After all, over there, simply putting in ranting doesn't lead you to here of all places.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=ranting&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-web-t&cop=mss&tab=

The rumors have turned out to be true, courtesy of Variety and Yahoo!

There's still life in the animated laffer "Family Guy," which has officially gone back into production -- two years after being canceled by Fox.

20th Century Fox TV will produce at least 22 new episodes of the series, although the studio expects that number to eventually go as high as 40. Cartoon Network has signed on to air the new episodes, which will premiere in early 2005 -- although Fox can exercise an option to broadcast the segs first.

"There was never any question that this show was wildly successful creatively, but it didn't draw a broad enough audience to justify sticking on the network," 20th Century Fox TV prexy Gary Newman said. "But we've found a way to capitalize on the incredibly loyal and fanatical base of enthusiasts for the show."

The announcement has been a year in the making. Studio execs first broached the idea of reviving "Family Guy" last spring after sales of the show's first DVD collection went through the roof ( Daily Variety, May 29). Additionally, repeats of "Family Guy" running on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" block quickly became one of the net's top-rated programs.

"It's really astonishing," "Family Guy" creator/exec producer Seth MacFarlane said. "We all kind of mused when it was canceled that it would be funny to have a fate like 'Star Trek,' where you go three years, get canceled and then explode in reruns. We never thought that would happen, but then, here we are."

It's actually the third wind for the series. "Family Guy" bowed to strong numbers in 1999, but the show's ratings cooled after it was moved to Thursday night in its second season. The laffer was canceled but quickly revived as Fox Entertainment prexy Gail Berman's first executive decision when she joined the network.

But after its third season didn't make waves, "Family Guy" was axed for a second time in 2001.

Then came the slot on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" and the DVD. According to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, more than 2.2 million units have been sold of "Family Guy's" two DVD volumes.

"This is one of the more interesting stories of the DVD era," said Steve Feldstein, senior VP at the division. "We're hearing so much about the significant impact of the DVD on the bottom line of Hollywood -- here's an instance where it impacted creatively as well. This was a tremendous asset that was lying dormant."

According to Newman, the Cartoon Network license fee and expected DVD sales will help cover the cost of resuscitating "Family Guy." Also, the studio expects to now reach 85 to 100 episodes of the show, enough for off-net broadcast syndication.

"Whether or not the show a few years from now will be available for syndication remains to be seen," Newman said. "But if it is, then we have a situation where we managed to take a busted series and turn it into a real asset."

In order to justify the show's return, Newman said the show's budget has been cut by about 10%. But MacFarlane said the belt-tightening won't have a major impact on the show.

"Family Guy" revolves around absent-minded dad Peter Griffin and his brood, who live in the quirky town of Quahog, R.I. Action revolves around Peter and his devoted wife Lois, daughter Meg, slacker son Chris, baby Stewie (the homicidal tot bent on world domination) and well-spoken family pet Brian, who prefers cocktails to puppy chow.

The show has scored two Emmy Awards: One in 2000 for outstanding voice-over performance (MacFarlane) and one in 2002 for outstanding music & lyrics (MacFarlane and Walter Murphy). "Family Guy" was also nominated for outstanding animated series in 2000.

MacFarlane voices several of the show's characters, including Peter; the show's other voice actors (including Seth Green (news), Alex Bornstein and Mila Kunis (news)) are in talks to return.

MacFarlane said he will divide his time on "Family Guy" and "American Dad," the animated project he's exec producing and writing with Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for Fox. The pilot for "Dad" is being animated.

Despite the "Family Guy's" resurrection, Newman said it's unlikely other canceled shows will experience a similar fate.

"In no way should anyone think this is a template for the future," he said. "A successful DVD life does not justify production costs. What it does suggest is those of us on the supplier side of the business have to be open to unique shows and situations."

Dawn of the Dead
The signs were there. Young nurse Ana (Sarah Polley) was getting off her shift at the hospital when the sick started rolling in. She ignored the media warnings in favor of some good tunes on the radio and quality time with her boyfriend. Then morning struck. The neighbor's girl was in the house. Ana and her boyfriend are confused until the girl attacks the boyfriend. In that instant, he turns into a zombie and sets his sights on Ana. She escapes and drives through the ground-zero atmosphere of her neighborhood in Milwaukee. After swerving off the road and hitting a tree, she joins up with a group of people headed toward the mall. Of note is the cop (Ving Rhames), the husband (Mekhi Phifer) with pregnant wife, and the de-facto leader of the group (Jake Weber). They take refuge in the mall but when the security guards are too unwielding (they're more worried about possible looting than zombies), they mutiny against them and take over while allowing some unaffected people inside. After many days, it's obvious no help is coming for them, leaving it to the group to figure out a way to leave the mall.

The gore isn't at the level of the recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it comes close. It certainly does frighten and the film does well in its start as well as its ending. It's the middle that I'm concerned about. Not much killing goes on through the middle (except for a hilarious sniping scene courtesy of the gun store owner across the street). And when the killing drops to zero, implausible situations take its place that make you go, hmmm. It's here where the plot holes are wide and evident and the frightening aspects of the zombies wear off. In fact, these zombies are really quite dumb. You mean to tell me after at least a week, the zombies still had no way of getting in the mall? I think the ones in "28 Days Later" were smarter than these poor folks. But you know, unlike 28 Days, this film leaves you much more satisfied and possibly a little more shocked considering it's in America rather than England. 2.5 stars

The Girl Next Door
Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is a man filled with dreams. He has his sights set at Georgetown and an important speaking event coming up with a scholarship on the line. Then his life gets flipped upside down with the arrival of the aforementioned girl next door, Danielle, played by 24's damsel in distress Elisha Cuthbert. A few awkward looks later, the two hit it off relationship-wise, but gets complicated when Matthew's friend Eli (Chris Marquette, Joan of Arcadia) finds Danielle in a porn movie. Soon, the distractions get the better of Matthew, who up to this point had been coasting through life, but now the combination of a girlfriend, missing money, the scholarship offer, and school burden him, forcing Matthew to deal with things one at a time.

At first glance, this is just another typical teen movie. Yet, looking closer, this movie is smart and charms with its high-quality performances. Newcomer Hirsch (thus far, his biggest film was The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) is very talented and Cuthbert shines as someone to see, both in looks and performance, things lacking in her role in 24, where she has no idea what's going on, gets into one ridiculous situation after another, and now is stuck behind a desk at CTU. By far, the funniest scenes comes from its look at sex education films and the radical makeover Matthew and his group do to it when they produce their own, complete with real porn stars. For a film that sells itself off as a sex-crazed teen comedy, it sends the serious message that doing the right thing will get you far ahead in life. In fact, it may be too smart for its own good, heaping on conflict after conflict for Matthew to solve and lengthening the film even further. At some point, I was getting a bit bored by it. But in the end, you'll laugh without being grossed out and you'll appreciate the characters of Matt and Danielle as two people who weren't dumbed down for the sake of a cheap laugh. 3 stars

Did anyone see what happened at the box office this weekend? Dawn of the Dead hit number one, pushing The Passion of the Christ to number two. In other words, demons from hell have knocked off Jesus Christ himself.

Spring Break has begun in earnest but not before I pretty much failed my midterms. There are only two feelings you can have after taking a midterm. It was so hard that you failed miserably on it (that's my math one where I believe I got one out of seven right) or it was so easy that it was easy for the rest of the class and you probably did worse relative to the curve (that's game theory). Oh well, it's all in the past now. Only one week to dwell on it.

Before my math midterm, my professor told us to turn off our cell phones. Cell phone cheating. Has it really become that prevalent? I've never seen it executed before in my classes, but with the proliferation of camera phones and text messaging, I wouldn't be surprised if it was widespread by now.

When I got home, my parents struck me with the news that my mother's cousin Minh had died. My first thought was, who? Well, I'd never seen him before and my older brothers had only faint memories of him. What makes his story notable was that he was found dead at the Capitol Expressway overpass. You see, he was homeless. I never could imagine someone in my family being so but there it is. In Vietnam, he was a successful banker with a wife and child. He left all of that behind when he fled to America, hoping to replicate his success here and bring his family along later. That success never came. My uncle was closest to him here and tried to help, but he refused any help and didn't even consider returning to Vietnam to be with his wife. Everyone in the family lost contact with him for 10 years. Last week, the coroner visited my uncle. Minh had kept his address on his person. At first he didn't know who the coroner was talking about, but it eventually got to him. He was found with an ear bitten off, probably by rats, and no teeth. An autopsy revealed Minh had died of a heart condition.

Rest in peace.

And we're back. Not completely though. Walking into math and poli sci Thursday afternoon, something about me was amiss. But I chose to ignore it. Then, a whole pizza, a VSA meeting, a crappy play, and a dinner and a movie later, combined with a lack of sleep the previous 5 nights really made that little thing on Thursday bad. Real bad. It turned out to be a stomach flu. So not only was my weekend schedule flushed away, well, you can imagine what else was being flushed away. At least it was all happening Friday night rather than the night before midterms.

So I've pretty much been in bed the last 36 hours, fighting this stomach flu and headache. And I'm feeling much better than I did. Some things I've learned? Well, all that thinking I did while doing nothing in bed made me realize how dumb my proposed topic was to be for my poli sci class. Pepto-Bismol is much better in liquid form than in tablet form. You can never have too much toilet paper in your place. If your stomach doesn't feel right, don't go out and try to eat a large meal. And ultimately, get at least as many hours of sleep per night as fingers on your hand.

So being stuck here leaves me with not much to talk about. I did get a card from the commencement folks writing that the keynote speaker at this year's graduation will be Ted Koppel, host of ABC's Nightline. You know what? That's a half-decent speaker to get. Will it get me to go to commencement? Eh. I don't know. I do have a final the next day.

Let's face it. Commencement speakers have been less than overwhelming the last couple of years with Olympian Jonny Moseley (who dropped out of Berkeley; how's that for a message?) and Leon Panetta (the chief of staff for Clinton; I know, you're still wondering who Leon Panetta is). And the committee set a pretty high bar for itself when they scheduled Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Attorney General Janet Reno in the years before that.

Koppel is a highly respected, award-winning newsman who has name recognition and should attract a crowd, albeit an educated crowd. You'd be hard-pressed to find probably 50 people of the graduating class who regularly watches Nightline.

The only black mark on Koppel? He graduated from Stanfurd, which itself has gotten Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as its graduation speaker.

Spartan
Where's the girl? Nobody seems to know. To answer the question, the United States government brings in a man simply known to us as Scott (Val Kilmer). Sent on a one-man mission, Scott roughs up people and uses some smart deduction to get what he wants. Where's the girl? Yes, I'm getting to that. The president's daughter (Kristen Bell) was abducted and sent to a white slave company. Scott gets some help from an army ranger (Derek Luke) to pinpoint the key clues involved in the case as well as her whereabouts throughout the ordeal: first a bar, then an escort house, and eventually overseas to Dubai. Where's the girl? I told you, Dubai. But underneath it all, an odd cover-up brews, leaving you to doubt who to trust.

Written and directed by David Mamet, you do get a Mamet film here, complete with snappy, repetitive dialogue and twists and turns throughout the movie. The execution of the film is great. Kilmer actually does a fine job in the lead role as does his supporting cast. After all, this is Mamet we're talking about, he's a master of characters. But the message he's trying to convey is a bit muddied. First of all, the plot line surrounding the cover-up is a little implausible. I'll leave you to watch the film for details. But like the last administration, this one involves an affair. Second, while the film is smart, it's also supposed to be a political thriller and there weren't too many thrills involved in the film. It finally finds it in the end, but by then, it's too late. We're already too tired from keeping track of the dialogue. Finally, the ending seems to leave us wanting more by leaving many questions unanswered. Though we can probably figure out the answers, I don't think a sequel is in the pipeline. 2.5 stars

Starsky & Hutch
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson reunite yet again for another comedy, this time based on the 70's television series. Stiller is Dave Starsky, the conservative cop who plays it by the book at all times. At the other end of the spectrum is Ken Hutchinson (Wilson). Their captain, seeing that both are without partners, pair them up. Their first case involves cocaine. Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn) has invented a new form of the drug that can't be detected through normal means and simply looks like artificial sweetener. With the help of Huggy Bear (played in a hilarious turn by Snoop Dogg), Starsky and Hutch track down Feldman while along the way, attracting two cheerleaders played by Carmen Electra and Amy Smart.

It seems as though Stiller and Wilson were made for each other. Both exhibit excellent chemistry in a film that would otherwise be a disaster. Director Todd Phillips can chalk up another success after last year's underrated "Old School." Yes, he seems to working with the same people, but at least he knows what works and what doesn't. And with the cast involved, there isn't much that doesn't work. Will Ferrell makes a cameo appearance as Big Earl, a fetishist who wishes to see Wilson perform for him in exchange for information in one of the film's funnier scenes. And it's nice to see the original Starsky & Hutch make cameos as well. Every scene tries to get that big laugh and while some don't, the effort is there and most do get it, almost all the result of the antics of Stiller and Wilson. 3 stars

Welcome to Mooseport
Monroe Cole (Gene Hackman), retired as President of the United States and recently separated from his wife, decides to spend his remaining days in the town of Mooseport, Maine. The town leadership sees the need for a new mayor and ultimately decides Cole would be the perfect man for the job. His competition for the job is from Handy Harrison (Ray Romano), the plumber and hardware store owner. Harrison has great respect for Cole until he asks out Harrison's girlfriend, Sally (Maura Tierney). Soon, it becomes an all-out war with Cole's political machine working with full force and Harrison choosing to pick his battles with the ex-President himself.

High expectations killed this movie. It had the idea and the stars, but the end result is disappointing. Many movies have found success extracting humor from political situations or small-town environments, but "Welcome to Mooseport" can't seem to find much success on either account. Romano is a comedian who has been successful in making fun of what he has lived through but it seems if you put him in any other environment, it most likely will be a lost cause. Hackman turns in a nice performance but that's no surprise. The rest of the supporting cast seems wasted, especially Marcia Gay Harden as the President's secretary. Overall, this "comedy's" few genuinely funny scenes can't make up for the predictable fare. 2 stars

At this late of an hour, I just finished one of those online poker tournaments and out of 4000, I ended up 142nd, easily my best to date. If it wasn't a free tournament, I probably would've gotten something, but alas nothing.

CalPIRG is out in full force again working on their fundraising drive for the semester. Every semester, it's always hard to say no or to run away from them because they are always so persistent, they come in numbers, and are usually in a row so that if you say no to one of them, 5 paces away, there's another one trying to get your student fees. An "I pledged CalPIRG" sticker is treated like a badge of honor while not having one means being hunted down until you give them your money.

What transpired today was a little surreal. Coming down from Northside, 3 CalPIRG volunteers were lined up waiting for the morning rush. As part of this rush and noticing the bright orange stickers and clipboards, I quickly want no part of them. Besides, I was late for class. One of those brave souls does confront the girl walking in front of me.

"Can I walk you to your class?" she asked. In a sudden retort, the girl yelled out NO! while giving her a glimpse of an evil eye. The volunteer was quickly scared away, walking quickly toward Northgate while the girl went along her merry way, either on her way to class or scaring more volunteers.

Though the title of the blog is Ranting..., rarely do I rant. Yet something interesting was noted to me earlier today. If you put in the word ranting in the Yahoo! search engine, this site comes in #2. Dumb algorithms.

Last summer, NBC successfully launched the show Last Comic Standing, in which amateur comedians vote the least funniest each week before the group is small enough for the audience to decide who indeed is the last comic standing. They picked an outstanding comedian in Dat Phan, whose act was really funny for about two seconds before it got repetitive, unfunny, and cringing to watch (overlooking the hilarious Dave Mordal). 6 months later channel surfing, I saw him performing on BET, that bastion for comedy. And you know what? He did the same exact material that made him famous. That's just lame.

Anyway, they've brought it back for a second season and while I don't think it can work the same magic as it did in the first season (we'll see), it's already brewing with controversy. Hundreds of comedians are widdled down to 10 finalists and supposedly, 4 judges have a say in this decision-process. Two of the judges, Drew Carey and Brett Butler are already crying foul over the selection of two finalists, agreeing that they weren't funny to be qualified. To top it off, these two are represented by the executive producer of the show, who also represents the host, Jay Mohr. Of course, the exec recused himself from all decisions.

A spokesman for NBC said the judges weren't clear on what their roles were in the decision-making process and that they weren't choosing folks to become finalists. Celebrity judging is simply a factor in the process.

Something about it all doesn't sit right but I'd rather have successful comedians, okay, comedians who used to be successful, be talent scouts for a comedy show rather than a bunch of stiff execs calling the shots. You don't see 3 lawyers judging talent on American Idol, do you? Good thing too; they might conclude William Hung is the American Idol. Shudder at that horrifying thought.

I'm thinking I should rethink my sleeping patterns. For various reasons, I stayed up til about 2:30 last night and woke up at 7:30 for the 8:00 class. Once you're up, you've got the energy to last a few hours. It's those hours around lunchtime that'll kill you. Having math in that primo spot doesn't help.

So I'm in there today, listening to Cauchy's Integral Formula and writing whatever the professor writes on the board. I soon start dozing off, barely able to keep my eyes open. Apparently, after 45 minutes of being awake and asleep and probably 2 minutes of a complete blackout, I wake up. The lecture had continued on, and I kept on writing. And wouldn't you know it, I started writing poli sci stuff for about 3 lines worth. Funny how the brain works. So in my notes, I know that in the formula, g(b) is valid if and only if the state passes it with a two-thirds majority vote.

Math is tough business. I was in a workshop tonite with mostly math majors and the undergraduate math advisor who was there made the comment that grade inflation had reached the Berkeley College of Letters and Science but she was proud that math was not one of those majors raising grades. Upon hearing that, most of us grumbled. Did you know the average Math GPA is 2.7? There's a good line for me. I'm above average as a math major.

You know what class I need to boost my GPA? Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball. This class was taught by Georgia coach Jim Harrick Jr. in 2001. It consisted of one multiple-choice test at the end of the term. Not only was the test ridiculously easy, students could miss the whole class, 3 of whom were on the basketball team on which Harrick Jr. was the assistant coach, and everyone in the class got A's. Harrick Jr., as well as his father, the head coach, have since lost their jobs as a result of academic fraud. A copy of the test is at ESPN. Here are a few choice questions. I'm not including the choices but bear in mind, unless otherwise indicated, the questions are multiple choice.

How many halves are in a college basketball game?

How many quarters are in a high school basketball game?

How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a basketball game?

Diagram the 3-point line and half-court line.

How many goals are on a basketball court?

The poker craze has reached the Bay Area. It was small stuff on the Berkeley campus when the VSA had its own little hold 'em tournament. Datman came in second after the Persian guy who beat him got a flush out of a 7-3 off-suit on the last hand. The big stuff is happening down in San Jose at Bay 101 with the World Poker Tour Shooting Stars Tournament. 23 hot shots in the poker world have joined the 230-player field for a 3-day tournament to be televised on the Travel Channel in June. 200 people can watch it live Friday at 2 pm at the casino to see the final 6 people battle it out.

Crazy happenings while walking through Sproul today. Two ladies with children, one walking and one in a stroller, were walking alongside. They were having a lively conversation when suddenly, the one with the stroller stopped dead in her tracks. The stroller was empty. Now the woman was hysterical, running around the area by the MLK Student Union, looking around corners, asking people if anyone saw a small child, her friend trying to calm her down. Three minutes later, the child comes back in the arms of her father, both looking calm and collected and he remarked that they stayed behind to stare at the visage of Bob Marley near Sather Gate. A relieved mother collapsed in front of that ASUC bulletin board, where for some odd reason, stayed for at least 10 minutes and was still laying there when my bus finally came. Good thing it was 9:45 in the morning when things were empty.

So I started this previously so now I'll finish.

Yesterday's elections weren't much of a surprise.

The Republican race was a landslide. George W. Bush got 100% of the vote. While being the only one on the ballot, it reminded me of that election Saddam Hussein had a while back, when he made the point that he got re-elected with 100% of the vote, seemingly affirming his support within Iraq.

Kerry pretty much won the Democratic nomination by taking 9 out of 10 Super Tuesday states. The exception being Vermont, where they seemed to think Howard Dean was still in the race. This sets up a Kerry vs. Bush showdown in November. Bush is already starting full steam ahead since all the $100 million he has in the bank must be spent by September because of campaign finance rules. By comparison, Kerry has raised $31 million for the entire campaign and has much less in the bank.

Bush's first television ads end with the line "steady leadership in times of change." That's the most awkward line I've heard for a campaign commercial. Sure, it gets to the point, but it's not something I wanna be repeating to myself. Reminds of that commercial that kept running in "Wag the Dog" where you kept hearing that you don't change horses in midstream.

And someone needs to change the law where the candidate in question must say that he or she approves of the message being said. Hearing a candidate say that, while being accountable, makes it sound like he's delegating tasks and not taking a role in the decision-making process.

Props 55, 57, and 58 all passed. 56, a prop to make it easier for California to pass the budget failed. Apparently, in this Democratic-controlled state, people still want to see Republicans tie things up and make it harder to pass a budget, which is fine by me. 55, the education facilities bond, won by the slimmest of margins with a 60,000 vote margin out of 5.5 million votes.

Bill Jones, former Secretary of State, will face Barbara Boxer for the U.S. Senate seat. Alameda County will pay 8.75% in sales tax, thanks to a tax increase to benefit health care in the county. People crossing the bridges will pay $1 more to improve transportation in the Bay Area.

The person I feel sorriest for? Matthew Mo. The County Central Committee for the 1st Supervisoral District had 6 seats open for 7 candidates and you could vote for 6 too. Mo happened to come in last place and lose out on the seat.

Today is Election Day and while it is extremely unlikely one vote will actually make a difference in the grand scheme of things, if everyone thinks like that, no one will vote at all, right? So go out and vote.

While my conservative tendencies are known, all anyone wants to talk about is the Democrats choice for President, a two-man race between Senators John Kerry and John Edwards. Actually, three if you believe all the posters of Dennis Kucinich all around Berkeley. If I were a Democrat, I would choose Edwards, who would have the ability to win in the South and has run a positive campaign filled with reaching out to the people and embracing the issues that matter to them most. Kerry certainly walks the walk and talks the talk, but he doesn't really look presidential, does he? Okay, neither does Bush but he's proven his worth after 4 years with the top job. And while Kerry has 25 years as a senator, there's nothing that shines on his record. Edwards is short on experience but is high on potential.

The state faces 4 propositions all dealing with the budget. 55 and 57 authorizes $27 billion in bonds for the schools and the state respectively. It will certainly strap the financial futures of the state for a long time, but the money is badly needed. 56 lowers the budget requirement from a 2/3 majority to a 55% majority. 58 would require a balanced budget in the state and prevent the state from issuing deficit bonds, something Governor Schwarzenegger proposes to do this year anyway. I would reluctantly vote yes for all 4. Schools are in bad shape and need to rebuild and the state can't afford any more cuts, even at its high future cost. Nobody wants to see a majority have an easier job in passing the budget but a bad budget is better than no budget at all. Besides, if and when Republicans are in the majority in the Legislature, I'm sure they would then welcome the 55% majority rule. 58 goes hand in hand with 57. If one fails, they both do.

Berkeley and Alameda County have Measure A on the ballot, which would raise the sales tax in the county to 8.75% for health care purposes. Yes, it's needed, but to have the highest sales tax isn't really welcome.

There's a 4-way race for the Republican Senate nomination between Bill Jones, the former Secretary of State, Rosario Marin, the former U.S. Treasurer, Howard Kaloogian, and Toni Casey. Jones is obviously the most qualified and should be the nominee but he would face an uphill climb to unseat the liberal Barbara Boxer.

So go out and vote. You'll get a cool sticker too.

In reality, it's Tuesday morning, but I'm thinking it's Monday night still so birthday wishes to up and coming filmmaker Steves down there at USC.